April 26, 2023: Chinese tech firm ByteDance is pushing one more social media app in the U.S. as its flagship mini video app TikTok faces a possible ban stateside.

While it could be part of a firm strategy for ByteDance, analysts said there are better solutions than a new product to replace TikTok.

“It’s certainly interesting timing. It seems that ByteDance is pushing Lemon8 as a potential alternative to TikTok,” stated Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow for starting tech at the German Marshall Fund.

In March, ByteDance asked creators about its “recent Lemon8 platform” before it officially rolled out in the U.S., citing the success of its “sister firm TikTok,” according to media accounts.

Lemon8, an Instagram and Pinterest, was launched in Japan in 2020. The lifestyle app, focusing on health, wellness and beauty, has quickly surged the charts in the U.S.

According to analytics firms data.ai, Lemon8 surged 693 positions to become the next most downloaded lifestyle app in the U.S. in the previous 30 days, starting real estate marketplace Zillow to third place while trailing behind Pinterest.

Lemon8 mixed 17 million downloads globally since its takeoff, according to Apptopia.

“A few of the algorithms that are used in Lemon8 are similar to or the same as the suggestions algorithms in TikTok, which of course, would make those apps tremendously popular due they feed you what you want to visit and so on,” stated that Glenn Gerstell, senior advisor at Center for Strategic and International research.